Page 30 - ELG1803 Mar Issue 455

REVIEWS . REVIEWS & RESOURCES

BOOK OF THE MONTH
Do a lot Scott thornbury’S 30 order, alongside so-called Finally, there is a short methods are eclectic.’ The

‘beyond methods’ section
‘marginal’ methods
book includes information on
Language teaching MethodS
(Suggestopedia, the Silent
superhuman polyglots and
focusing on ‘principled
Scott thornbury cuP
eclecticism’. This innovative
Way). Instead, this pocket-
some bizarre techniques.
iSbn: 978-1-108-40846-2
with a little We usually study different sized 130-page book approach helps to identify Many methods were new to
underlying beliefs and
groups methods by what
me, including Crazy English
they have in common. This
any potential benefits of
and Prendergast’s ‘mastery
methods (grammar-
categorisation results in six
system’. This easy-to-read
the methods; each one
translation, audiolingualism,
communicative language
and assessed. Thornbury
evaluate current practice.
linguistic, communicative
teaching) in chronological sections including natural, is succinctly described account should help us
and self-study methods. concludes that, in a way, ‘All Fascinating.
reviews in brief
OXFORD ACADEMIC VOCABULARY PRACTICE STORY CENTRAL STUDENT BOOK 6, Viv Lambert and Mo
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE B2-C1, Julie Moore, OUP Choy, Macmillan ISBN: 978-1-786-32955-4
ISBN: 978-019-400091-8
The target vocabulary in this excellent 144-page practice book is Story Central is a six-level series for young learners. Level 6 is
sourced from the Oxford Corpus of Academic English. The 45 main for A2/B1-level students. The nine chapters cover grammar and
units each contain around fifteen key words. In all, 250 activities help vocabulary, while the Clil strand has a timely focus on plastic
users learn and practise essential vocabulary to use in academic waste, tsunamis and online safety. The material has a lively
writing. Words from the AWL (academic word list) are highlighted. feel, full of fun songs, photos and attractive pictures. I like the
The book is aimed at students of any academic subject, with accompanying 48-page illustrated reader. What makes this
additional sections for key disciplines including medicine, law and book stand out are the simple activities which help students
engineering. I found the mathematics section quite complicated! reflect on the consequences of lifestyle choices, develop critical
Attractively laid out, the book contains solid input on hedging, thinking and promote interpersonal communication. These
citation and collocation; especially useful for self-study. Highly are impressive goals in a young learners’ course book. Worth
recommended. investigation.
English teaching around the world often takes place in TEACHING IN LOW-RESOURCE Reviews by Pete Sharma for Bournemouth English Book Centre: www.bebc.co.uk
CLASSROOMS: VOICES OF EXPERIENCE
under-resourced classrooms so, how do teachers make British Council, Eds: Richard Smith,
Amol Padwad and Deborah Bullock
the most of what they have? ISBN: 978-0-86355-884-0
hroughout the world, the authors with girls to encourage a higher degree of Karim in Bangladesh collaborated in
of this e-book write, English is creativity. We are then invited to discuss order to provide various solutions to the
often taught in classrooms with few how creating dialogues from texts gives perennial problem of correcting work in
Tresources. learners a deeper understanding of literary large classes.
However, they complain there are few characters. They explain how they came up with
training materials which emerge from – and It also looks at how the free writing their research questions, explain what they
which reflect – this reality. activity at the start of the lesson helped the learned and what conclusions they reached.
So this book, an edited collection of work girls gain confidence to share their work. Other examples in the second half of the
produced by 34 teachers from Bangladesh, Among the seventeen activities are those book include managing multiple classes in
India, Nepal and Pakistan, aims to fill this dealing with getting the whole group on one room without partitions, how to deal
gap. The first half consists of eighteen with students from diverse backgrounds and
‘Stories of Success’ in which teachers and This book underlines the use of learners’ own language(s) in EFL/
teacher-trainers share their own experiences ESL classrooms.
during the first week of a Hornby Regional the value of teacher I would particularly recommend this title
School event in Kathmandu. collaboration as to teacher-educators working anywhere
Each story is presented briefly and in the world as it underlines the value of
followed by a few questions that invite the a means of ongoing teacher collaboration as a means of ongoing
reader to reflect. development development.
The 68-page ebook, which comes as a This book clearly spells out how teachers
PDF (available at www.teachingenglish. can work together and introduce different
org.uk/low-resource-classrooms) contains task, making learning more meaningful and teaching techniques in their lessons.
links to five-minute video clips in which using technology to motivate learners. With any luck, it should lead to the
the authors provide details of their teaching The second half of the book reports on emergence of more relevant locally
context. how participants led their own small-scale produced materials in the
They also talk about the methods research projects, which they initially began near future.
they use to introduce different teaching at Hornby and then completed in their own
techniques. institutions. Wayne Trotman is a
For example, we read and then view the They each reflect on the value of such
video of Gulnaz Mondegarian from Karachi exploratory practice. teacher educator at Izmir
explaining why and how she introduced It looks at how, for example, Fehmina Katip Çelebi University,
role-play to her English literature lessons Qaiser in Pakstan and Mohammad Rejaul Izmir, Turkey.
30 March 2018 editorial@elgazette.com 31